Mark 'Chopper' Read's final interview: Every confession | 60 Minutes Australia

still anybody there mark chopper reed dished out and survived a lot of violence in his life bull hole back there his body is like a road map to hell and back but suffering stage four liver cancer he knows he's on a one-way journey can you see that in the camera that's the tumor look at that that's a pretty big tumor yeah that's a big tumor look at the size of the blaster is that one thing you are frightened of well i don't like the look of it but a little look at it who's growing in my guts i don't want to look at it emotionally how are you coping with the thought of dying oh it doesn't it doesn't even hit me emotionally it hasn't even i don't even you know i haven't thought of dying i don't think you're lying in the grave and you know what's going on here you know i can't i don't i like i'd like to come back and see what all the fuss is going to be out from dead read a few of the papers and watch a few of the tv shows and listen to a few of the arty farty debates you know that are going to be on half from dead was he wasn't he a good writer was he or was he a good artist was he or wasn't he a good singer do you think there'll be a debate about whether you were a good or bad man i'll be here be a debate about that yeah is that debatable oh i suppose it's debatable yeah there could be no more fitting place than melbourne's pentridge prison for chopper reed's final interview now closed chopper spent nearly 20 years of his life inside these penitentiary walls so weeks from death it was here he decided to finally come clean on a crime he has never been convicted of murder tonight he's admitting to four homicides well are you prepared to tell the truth today yeah of course i am why is that because that's what it's all about this is the last interview the last picture show does your word mean anything don't question me about my bloody well words that's all i'm saying that's it four is all you're getting and that four that's that's it four that's it and say i haven't killed any more than that and don't try to tell me don't try to make out that i have i guess the point is that you have said in the past you put a television camera in the room and you'll lay your head off oh yeah of course yeah right but i'm telling the truth now so mark what happened to desi costello well jessie costello was standing here he was here yeah and uh yeah you know you're a [ __ ] imbecile there's you know getting [ __ ] you you gotta get it you know [ __ ] you're a [ __ ] imbecile like a whack bang outside the leinster arms hotel in collingwood choppa is taking me through this bizarre re-enactment of a murder 42 years ago come on put your [ __ ] hand up right this one yeah you packing anything like that right it was an organized hit on union heavy desmond costello chopper reed was just 17 years of age and this was his first murder [Music] who was this bloke painter and docker what was your involvement in his murder oh just the black that killed him do you even remember why he had to die no i can't really tell you why it's like yeah i'm trying to think of something away i've got the fattest remotest idea why you know you start to get in the land of oh really i don't really why i don't know why and as i sit here now i couldn't care less why did why ever matter to you why nothing to do with it did he see it coming well no he didn't really see it coming there he didn't believe it was going to come not from me i was a young kid 197 years old when you were about to shoot him what did he say i pulled the gun out he said [ __ ] off you know he said what are you going to do with that sure i said what do you think and he said get [ __ ] go away you should not smack in the mouth i'll take it off you jam it up your ass all sort of stuff you know and so i just shot him and he started to assault me yeah but you were going to shoot him anyway well yeah yeah yeah but he was starting he was getting insulting you know saying that i wanted to shoot him and he'd take the gun off me and stick it up my bum and all sort of stuff you know the pub's keg seller became dez costello's temporary tomb yeah and he's gone when you're through why are you laughing there he goes that's it yeah that's it and you thought he was dead yeah yeah there's a doorknob as far as i was concerned but he wasn't was he well well the next morning he's still still a bit of a bit of a cackle so what did he do then step on his [ __ ] throat we just [ __ ] went like that just took a bloody just a bit of a bit of it that's all it took did you know that you had that in you yeah yeah yeah blase and brutal the 17 year old chopper and an accomplice carried the body of desmond costello a few blocks to dump it here in the shadow of what locals call the collingwood shot tower police found his body they just never found his murderer were you surprised that you got away with it no way there's no one around no no this is our past five my buddy uh whatever it was morning on in 1971 in collingwood so you don't think anyone saw you well if they did see us they turned their head quickly and went the other way so what turned 17 year old chopper reed into a killer the son of a soldier and a religious mother as a young boy he was sexually assaulted later teased and beaten up at school spent time in foster care and was even committed to psychiatric hospitals what do you reckon has made you who you are mark i don't know but do you think that anything in your past uh you know the fact that you yourself were attacked as a five-year-old or six-year-old um and raped do you think you know the fact that you were in an orphanage for a time do you think the fact that your dad loved guns and and you know you described him as mad do you think that shaped you i've never stopped to um to analyze they are i've never stopped to analyze it um i've never i've never drooled or given it any great thought what what makes me tick it really it amuses me when other people say oh i know you why is that oh i've spent so much time with you i know you we don't know what makes anyone tick you know we everyone's a mystery to everyone and everyone is a mystery to themselves i believe you know but the violence you know and and absolute fascination with guns where did that what what violence there's no violence in shooting someone there's no violence there's no um blood spurting out all over the kitchen you've told me you've probably stabbed up to a dozen people you've jumped on people's heads you've done i mean you're violent mark no i oh god am i there's violence and then there's violence i mean only weeks before his death chopper still had the energy to theatrically make his chilling point is that camera following me you put the mouth on this on the side of the gutter there and you get them to open their mouth along the edge of the gutter then you stand back and you go smash the back of the head right on the edge of the gutter bang that's why that's right you start seeing the blood roll out oh that's why that's an act of violence and that's he's starting on an act of violence here it's getting towards an act of violence in my book coming up my enemy didn't even like being in jail i loved it chopper's life on the inside got the ear like that he's gone i said what are you doing he said i'm trying to be gentle mate and justice chopper style it was up to me to kill him that's next on 60 minutes in the eyes of the courts chopper was a violent criminal for many admirers he was much more than that larrican showman comedian and he loved playing to the crowd by his own admission embellishing his crimes as part of the chopper roadshow but tonight he insists he's telling the truth to set the record straight you're about to hear the details of two more murders he committed but for which he was never convicted as always with chopper the language and the subject matter are explicit how do you think the other prisoners would see you they hate my guts i'm as popular as a pork chop in a synagogue there has never been a crim quite like chopper reed articulate charismatic and funny here was a man only too willing to shine a light on australia after dark the criminal world is controlled by blood and guts it always has been controlled by blood and guts it always will be controlled by blood and guts it's hard to believe you've spent something like 23 and a half years in places like this seven and a half years in a place like this and five years down at wisdom prison tasmania bar a few months this was chopper's home from his late teens to middle age but you put a bed in here and there's not much a bed and a and a plastic bucket for a toilet a plastic bottle full of water and a roll of toilet paper that's what you got and uh while chopper was never convicted for murder he did time for violent crimes armed robbery assaults arson kidnapping and on the inside he was just as violent as leader of the notorious overcoat gang he declared war on his rivals what would motivate you to get involved in that gang war well i just didn't like that i didn't like the faces of the people of the opposition they they when i arrived in b division they seemed to have everything out of control they were making all the home brewers and getting all the dave been and organizing everything and running around a place like kingpins and uh so i thought i'd um i'd rectify the situation and we had some homemade axes made up in the engineer shop and it was me and a couple of other friends i made them wear over coats and we we had axes up our sleeves and we went around and uh and dealt with the situation so you're not going to get me then kathy you're not worth doing any more time over here megan okay you get off on self-defense all you got to do is kill me present me psychiatric records to the court there's not a jury in the land that will convict you the gang war was so extreme and chopper so enigmatic they made the movie chopper he in turn became an international cult hero this part comedian beethoven had his critics too keith so you can name three of them part monster the secret to winning a war is to is to love something your um your enemy doesn't like it my enemy didn't even like being in jail i loved it my enemy didn't like being in haste division i loved it my enemy didn't like um having to get up every monday morning and watch watch for low flying pocket knives and lifeline hammers and whether they're going to get attacked that day and who they'd have to attack that day to survive i loved it right did you really like well i loved the the um the cut and thrust of uh of all the sort of stuff going on in the charlie but it's the cut and thrust he inflicted upon himself that he will be forever remembered famously cutting off his ears to get out of maximum security how much did it hurt oh it hurt like hell and really bloody hurt you know i've got a great tolerance to pain i didn't yell out or anything but it bloody well hurt and kevin teller's got the ear like that and he's gone i said what are you doing he said i'm trying to be gentle mate i said you're an idiot i said you don't hack someone's ears off gently i said yeah heck film hacked from nick like that and put some muscle into it right he's going chill straight too right he's going he said you're looking to bash me later are you i said no come and do the other one i'm going to look at it with one ear aren't i but behind choppers madness and mirth was always the menace inside pentridge prison he was judge jury and executioner [Music] and it was here chopper reed says he committed his second murder in 1974 his victim was pedophile and child killer reginald isaacs me and man charlie walked into his cell child his belt into the ground and i've jumped up on his bunk and tried it and bang jumped on his head from his bunk onto his head from his back onto his head from his back onto his head right and then i've gone from the bunk i slipped in off the head and hit the chest from the back on into the chest bang bang and uh he wasn't he wasn't dead you know but he was suitable and so i've taken his shoelaces off him tied his hand hands behind his back and uh and then i'm taking the sheets off him wrapping the sheets around his neck lifted him up with mad charlie got the sheets around his neck and i've tied the sheet up over over the top railing of the observed gate pushed him down and i've gone out of the cell and i've closed the cell door there was no one that saw us that we were pretty quick in here and um anyway at seven o'clock that morning uh they opened his cell door and found out that he committed suicide the official verdict was suicide but chopper claims he got away with murder within these four walls of d-division at pintridge no one ever questioned me from murder over it no i never thought it was murder it was thought it was suicide and you almost sound proud of your work on that one oh well anyone that would kill a child in such a manner didn't deserve to live but why was it up to you too well well it must have been up to me because um everyone in the romania shook hands with each other and said the first person that sees this bloke was obliged to kill him and i happened to be the first person to see him so it was up to me to kill him sent kilda 1987 and in a rare stint out of jail chopper commits his third murder shooting siam ozzicam also known as sammy the turk outside bojangle's nightclub why did you come out with sam the two well he told me he told me he was going to sell me a handgun out here the cd nightclub has long since gone it's now a health spa and chopper says for the first time he is telling the truth of what happened here i said where is it mate and you said uh they'd be here in a minute they'd be here in a minute i said who's they he said they'd be here in a minute and i i i turn around and see nothing behind me and so i thought would they be here in a minute yet treacherous bastard you know i said you brought me here kill me didn't you and uh so i shot him as you do i shot him and uh danny went and that was it wait wait wait chopper you got gun until now chopper has always claimed the shooting was in self-defense that sammy the turk was armed and part of a drug dealing gang that wanted to get rid of chopper the standover man i was taking their money i was driving on the western suburbs crazy you know i was standing over my body virtually half of them and uh taking their money they didn't like it you know but on the night he shot him sammy the turk didn't pull a gun on chopper he was unarmed when i killed sammy the turk that wasn't a self-defense that was outright [ __ ] murder sorry it shouldn't be swearing but that was outright murder i i told um the armor we scored that night that that it was self-defense i said he grabbed the gun out of the front of me pants and i grabbed the shotgun out and click click click here and i've gone bang for the head and i thought to myself if anyone believes this story they got like a rocks in the head but the jury did believe chopper and he was acquitted everyone swallowed it i couldn't understand and next thing you know the jury came back and said not guilty i thought i didn't go cheer cheer i just dumbfained it as the jury walked out i'm still looking do they say not guilty i couldn't believe it not guilty for that oh god i'm mighty thank god you can't be tried twice [Music] what you've just heard is chopper reed admitting to his third murder a confession he's never made before and one he's certainly never been convicted of but the killing didn't end there and that brings us to the cold case of sydney michael collins who's been officially missing since 2002. he's a bikie boss who had his first run in with chopper 10 years earlier when chopper shot and wounded him still to come what more do you need bang get about get a bit of that india killing in cold blood why did you murder him his ear is an absolute turd chopper's last astonishing deathbed confession bang what does it feel like to kill someone the final chapter next on 60 minutes for most chopper reed was the funny man on the show circuit with a distant violent past it was years since he'd been on the inside part of his appeal was that this one-time standover man seemed no longer a threat but the truth is chopper remained deadly dangerous the showman was still a hitman and tonight with his trademark confronting words and manner he confesses to a fourth gruesome murder he's most cold-blooded [Applause] [Music] for the past 20 years chopper reed has been making a living playing chopper enthralling audiences with a mix of dark deeds and black humor thin line that's the way you know you're following the trail or someone's in their league but as funny as he makes it out to be as a standover man kidnapper and hired gun he was feared as one of australia's most dangerous men no matter how he fobs it off now [Applause] [Music] of course we were kidnapping haven't taken anybody money and all the rest of it but buddy um but basically that was it would just kidnap them and take them bash them and smash them embarrassment and smash them and um give me a good eye and let them go this violence that you have in you the rage that you have in you did you learn it or did you were you born with it do you reckon [Applause] uh oh i don't know i don't know i uh what does your family think of your line of work my father was he was tickled pinky he'd roll around the floor laughing and uh my mother was uh horrified into into absolute um denial she just used to say that she was no no no relative of mine she thought you were mad didn't she yeah she always believed me to be insane you know [Music] i'm a very very good shot would you like would you like me to show you how good a show i am yeah all right i'll get my young assistant trent grab that bottle get over there mad bad definitely a loose cannon yep i'm a crack shot when he filmed this extraordinary scene back in 1992 chopper was only months away from going back to prison this time for shooting bikey boss sid collins because he was a national president of outlaw muzzle club i was supposed to donate eight thousand dollars to his wedding wedding so all the people that were coming to the wedding the main people had to bring eight grand i'm not giving him eight grand for his bloody wedding i don't even know how to ride a motorbike you know uh what will these bloody bikings want me to invite me to their bloody weddings for you got to bring bloody large amounts of money and is that why you shot him yes what more do you need bang get about get a bit of that india and then you had him driven to hospital well i said you want one of the brain no and i said you wouldn't go into the lemon tree or out into the hospital where do you do you tell on people no you don't tell other people you stick solid yes won't go give me up no all right good so we can take you to hospital and you remain silent yes word on that yes i believe you radio team to hospital but sid collins broke this baffling criminal code by going to police chopper spent the next six years here at risdon prison you can't go dobbing people in you can't go giving people up just for a minor shooting shot him in the guts and took him to hospital with a petty offense after his release from prison in 1998 chopper said he was never going back his years of crime were over but what nobody knew was he would never forget being crossed by sid collins and so then 10 years later yeah about 10 years later you track him down in casino no no no no we're in casino new south wales doing a talk night talk like me and jacko doing a talk night who do you think comes up to me after the talk night and wants me to sign a piece of memorabilia hello hello choppa you sign this i can't believe it what what are you doing here oh well i got some polygons you saw on this no i'm not saying anything with you i'm not signing anything uh i can't even believe it you know and uh i'll see you backstage they come and talk to us backstage was there oh i couldn't believe it man idiot completely insane of his head on cocaine right and so what happened then oh i could tell you what happened but we took him i've got him in a i hopped into his car going back to his place bang bang bang back and uh i shot him the last time with his gun i killed him this time with his gun that's how stupid he is [Laughter] i shot him the first time with his gun i shot him the second time with his gun how stupid is this person this is an idiot complete idiot and this time were you shooting to kill him oh yeah this time i was shooting to kill him last time he just got up in the guts and tripped the hospital very christian last time not this time bang why did you murder him because he was an absolute turd so he literally kicked his ass anyway anyway it's a comedy evening and i thought that was a funny story so years after convincing his legion of fans he'd swapped crime for storytelling chopper brutally settles a score with an old enemy what did you do with the body i mean stick him in the stuck him in a hole and fill the hole in as one does whereabouts was that casino new south wales can you be more specific to yourself i'm not going to go and gig it up for you i couldn't dig it up for you myself i would forget it was bloody somewhere near a [ __ ] a bloody football label someone never put the label yeah about 50 [ __ ] feet away from football over on the on the other side of a big mound of bloody dirt so i remember do you reflect on that at all i mean you know his son told police he was missing reported him missing there's a family there looking for a dad who's no longer around any remorse any sort of reflection on that no no none at all none at all not at all absolutely none at all no none at all what does it feel like to kill someone didn't feel anything at all nothing name an adrenaline rush no didn't feel nothing no adrenaline rush nothing fear no nothing no sense of fear no sense of foreboding or anything like that nothing sense of power no no no sense of power nothing like that at all so sense of looking over your shoulder did anyone see it that's about it what do you expect me to say mark brandon choppet reed wasn't afraid of killing and even in his final weeks he wasn't afraid of dying he died as he lived with no remorse few regrets and certainly no guilt over the four murders he's now admitted to he leaves behind a wife margaret and two sons charlie and roy [Music] you know i never ever worried about death never ended my mind death that's what's kept me alive i suppose they say you uh you sleep and you sleep and you sleep and then you fall into a coma and then you uh sometimes you're in the camera you die so it sounds pretty painless you know so i hope that's how i go it's better than dying in a with a bullet in the back of the brain or a ball in the front of the brain i guess you've dodged a few of those yeah i've judged a few of those and i literally have too i've heard the bullets rustling through the air going past my ears it's good to be able to hear the sound if you don't you're dead even though i've got no ears i can still hear the sound of a bull what do you think your judgment day will bring do you think there's a big penitentiary up in the sky big pentridge in the sky well if it was a big pentridge in the sky um i suppose there'd be place there for me i wonder who'd be in it place be empty wouldn't it because it'd be in heaven i'd be the only person up there [Laughter] i would i'm the only person i could think of going to heaven really yeah from my world we have contacted victorian police and offered any material that might help them to close the cold cases of desmond costello and syd collins hello i'm tara brown thanks for watching to keep up with the latest from 60 minutes australia make sure you subscribe to our channel you can also download the nine now app for full episodes and other exclusive 60 minutes content

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 4,771,707

Rating: 4.6743479 out of 5

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Charles Wooley, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Allison Langdon, Tom Steinfort, Ellen Fanning, Peter, Overton, Karl Stefanovic, Ray Martin, Peter Stefanovic, Jana Wendt, Jeff McMullen, Jennifer Byrne, Mike Munro, Richard Carleton, Tracey Curro, Paul Barry, Peter Harvey, Michael Usher, Ross Coulthart, George Negus, Ian Leslie, Gerald Stone, Mark ‘Chopper’ Read, Underbelly, crime, australia, Chopper, murder

Id: bOOO8sp0b4g

Length: 30min 38sec (1838 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 29 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/NotessimoALIENS]

60 minutes sucks but chopper was a real og

[u/___Shrek___]

He Was